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High blood pressure is a risk for (MCI) mild cognitive impairment

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Close up of digital monitor device with cuff showing high diastolic and systolic blood pressureDid you know that high blood pressure puts you at risk for developing Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI)? The problem is, MCI can eventually develop into dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

A recent study involving 9,400 adults that was published in JAMA (January 28, 19) indicates that you can reduce your risk of MCI by lowering your blood pressure.  Adults in their 50s or older with high blood pressure participated in a clinical trial led by scientists at the Wake Forest School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, NC. The purpose of the trial was to evaluate the effect of blood pressure control on risk of dementia. The participants received either intensive blood pressure control or standard treatment.

Intensive control was used to bring systolic blood pressure below 120 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg), while the purpose of standard treatment was to lower it to under 140 mm Hg. Systolic blood pressure is the pressure in the arteries when the heart contracts. It is the top number in a blood pressure measurement, as in 120 mm Hg over 70 mm Hg.

The results revealed that significantly fewer of those who received intensive blood pressure control went on to develop Mild Cognitive Impairment, compared with those on the standard treatment. The lead investigator Dr. Jeff D. Williamson said that “three years of lowering blood pressure not only dramatically helped the heart, but also helped the brain.”

However, the study did not show that intensive blood pressure control reduced the incidence of dementia. The authors suggested that low numbers and the study finishing earlier than planned could be reasons for this.

What is Mild Cognitive Impairment? 

MCI is a condition in which the individual has some loss of mental acuity, such as forgetting appointments, losing the flow of a conversation, and difficulties making decisions and keeping track of finances, as well as trouble with reasoning. The individual is still able to care for him or herself and live a fairly normal life.

Approximately 15 to 20 percent of people 65 and older have MCI. People living with MCI are more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias. But MCI doesn’t always lead to dementia. In some cases, MCI remains stable or resolves on its own. Some medications may result in symptoms of MCI, including forgetfulness or other memory issues.

There are no pharmaceutical drugs approved in the U.S. for the treatment of MCI. However, the study discussed above, is a good indication that high blood pressure that is controlled through changes in lifestyle can help prevent MCI.

Why is high blood pressure dangerous?

It’s called the “silent killer” because it is insidious. It often has no warning signs or symptoms.

If your blood pressure is high it causes strain on the vessels carrying blood throughout your body. This can injure the vessels and lead to plaque buildup as a response to injury. Eventually, this can lead to narrow blood vessels and then clotting of passageways, which can cause damage to the heart and/or brain. High blood pressure ultimately increases your risk for getting heart disease, kidney disease, dementia, and for having a stroke.

Taking Your Blood Pressure

When your doctor takes your blood pressure, he/she is measuring the pressure in your arteries as your heart pumps. The heart contracts and relaxes during each heartbeat. When it contracts, the blood is being pumped out of the two ventricles (chambers) and your blood pressure goes up. Systolic pressure (the top number in the blood pressure reading) is the peak reading of the pressure produced by this contraction.

When the heart relaxes, blood fills the ventricles and your blood pressure goes down. The diastolic pressure (the bottom number in the blood pressure reading) measures the pressure between the beats as the heart relaxes.

What’s normal blood pressure?

High blood pressure used to be considered 140/90 or higher.

According to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (a division of the Institutes of Health), normal blood pressure is now considered to be lower than 120/80 according to the guidelines released in November 2017.

The guidelines state that for BP above 115/75, every rise of 20/10 mm Hg doubles the risk of cardiovascular disease. Since 2017, the American Heart Association has advised that people with high BP should receive treatment at 130/80 rather than 140/90.

In the new guidelines, the AHA also recommends that doctors only prescribe medication in cases of a previous heart attack or stroke, or in the presence of risk factors such as: age, diabetes, or chronic kidney disease. Rather, at the earlier stages of hypertension, another word for high blood pressure, patients should make lifestyle changes. Here are a number of ways to do that:

10 Ways to support healthy blood pressure and prevent MCI

  1. Eat a nutritious, high-fiber, low-fat heart healthy diet. Learn about the MIND diet.
  2. Beware of your intake of sodium.
  3. Include foods high in phytonutrients—fruits and veggies.
  4. Take nutritional supplements proven to support a healthy heart: magnesium, potassium, B vitamin complex, vitamin D3, CoQ10, Grape seed extract, Resveratrol, Quercetin.
  5. Avoid decongestants if possible. These drugs can raise blood pressure.
  6. Practice a stress reduction technique such as yoga or meditation.
  7. At the minimum, take a walk 3-4 times a week.
  8. Stop smoking and reduce consumption of alcohol.
  9. Drink 6 to 8 glasses of water every day.
  10. If you snore, have sleeping problems, or are sleepy during the day, discuss sleep apnea with your physician.

Give yourself the gift of peace and get plenty of rest and sleep.

Happy Holidays!

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Barbra Cohn cared for her husband Morris for 10 years. He passed away from younger-onset Alzheimer’s disease in 2010. Afterward, she was compelled to write “Calmer Waters: The Caregiver’s Journey Through Alzheimer’s & Dementia”–winner of the 2018 Book Excellence Award in self-help– in order to help other caregivers feel healthier and happier, have more energy, sleep better, feel more confident, deal with feelings of guilt and grief, and to ultimately experience inner peace. “Calmer Waters” is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Boulder Book Store, Tattered Cover Book Store,  Indie Bound.org, and many other fine independent bookstores, as well as public libraries.

Do you have any of these risk factors for Alzheimers?

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Woman with hypertension treating by a nurse

  1. Dizziness when standing up
  2. Reduced levels of plasmalogens
  3. High blood pressure
  4. Obesity
  5. Alcohol
  6. Head trauma
  7. Family history
  8. Smoking
  9. Age
  10. Social Isolation (see Loneliness vs. Aloneness: Why one is dangerous to your health

Most people know that old age is a risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease. In fact, after age 65 the risk of Alzheimer’s doubles every five years. And after age 85 one out of three seniors dies with Alzheimer’s or other form of dementia. You’ve probably also heard that obesity, alcohol consumption, head trauma, family history, smoking, and social isolation put you at increase risk.

But here are a few risk factors that you may not have heard about.

Dizziness when standing up

A new risk factor, and a concern for me personally, is orthostatic hypotension (OH), a fancy name for feeling  dizzy when you stand up. According to a new study, middle-aged people who experience orthostatic hypotension may have a higher risk of developing dementia later in life. The study analyzed data from 11,709 participants without a history of coronary heart disease or stroke. It concluded that individuals who experience a drop in systolic blood pressure (the bottom number) of at least 20 mm Hg or a drop in diastolic blood pressure (the top number) of at least 10 mm Hg on standing are said to have orthostatic hypotension.

Over a 25-year period, 1,068 participants developed dementia and 842 had an ischemic stroke. Compared to persons without OH at baseline, those with OH had a higher risk of dementia and ischemic stroke. Persons with OH had greater, although insignificant, cognitive decline over 20 years. But since the study doesn’t take any other risk factors into consideration, I’m not going to lose sleep over this.

2. We’ve heard how omega 3 fatty acids are necessary for a healthy cardiovascular system. But if your liver doesn’t process these key lipids properly it can spell trouble in your brain.

Reduced levels of plasmalogens — a class of lipids created in the liver that are integral to cell membranes in the brain — are associated with an increased risk of Alzheimer’s Disease, according to new research presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC) 2018 by Mitchel A. Kling, MD, an associate professor of Psychiatry in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the Veterans Affairs Medical Center. A reduced level is also implicated in Down’s Syndrome and Parkinson’s disease.

In 2012, scientists found a 40% reduction in plasmalogen content of white matter in the brain in individuals with early stage Alzheimer’s.

Plasmalogens are created in the liver and are dispersed through the blood stream in the form of lipoproteins, which also transport cholesterol and other lipids to and from cells and tissues throughout the body, including the brain. The researchers measured several plasmalogens including those containing omega-3 fatty acids docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), as well as an omega-6 fatty acid and closely-related non-plasmalogen lipids, in blood-based fluids collected from two groups. The first group included 1,547 subjects that have Alzheimer’s disease, MCI or significant memory concerns (SMC), and subjects who were cognitively normal (CN) and who are enrolled in the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative. The second group included 112 subjects from the Penn Memory Center, including those with Alzheimer’s, MCI, and CN.

“Our findings provide renewed hope for the creation of new treatment and prevention approaches for Alzheimer’s disease,” Kling said. “Moving forward, we’re examining the connections between plasmalogens, other lipids, and cognition, in addition to gene expression in the liver and the brain. While we’re in the early stages of discovering how the liver, lipids, and diet are related to Alzheimer’s disease and neurodegeneration, it’s been promising.”

You would think that taking omega 3s would help, right? Well, according to the study, they don’t. However, plasmalogens from mussels are being sold in Japan and Singapore as a health supplement for Alzheimer’s disease. See Scallop-derived PLASMALOGEN. There is also a Singapore product for sale in the U.S. that supposedly helps your body increase the level of plasmalogens. It’s called NeuroREGAIN. You can read about it here: NeuroREGAIN

According to the first study cited, these products don’t help because of the pH in the
digestive system and the ability to utilize the ingredients.
But it’s up to you. I tried lots of things with my husband, and if he were still alive I’d probably try this product, too.

3. Recently, researchers from the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, IL, set up a study funded by the National Institutes of Health to look for links between blood pressure and physical markers of brain health in older adults. The findings are published in the July 11, 2018, online issue of Neurology. Study co-author Dr. Zoe Arvanitakis explains the types of pathology they were searching for.

“We researched whether blood pressure in later life was associated with signs of brain aging that include plaques and tangles linked to Alzheimer’s disease, and brain lesions called infarcts, areas of dead tissue caused by a blockage of the blood supply, which can increase with age, often go undetected and can lead to stroke, said Arvanitakis.”

Healthy blood pressure is less than 120/80 millimeters of mercury (mmHg). The higher number is called systolic blood pressure, the pressure in the blood vessels when the heart beats. The lower number is called diastolic blood pressure, the pressure when the heart is at rest.

For the study, 1,288 older people were followed until they died, which was an average of eight years later. The average age at death was 89 years. Blood pressure was documented yearly for each participant and autopsies were conducted on their brains after death. The average systolic blood pressure for those enrolled in the study was 134 mmHg and the average diastolic blood pressure was 71 mmHg. Two-thirds of the participants had a history of high blood pressure, and 87 percent were taking high blood pressure medication. A total of 48 percent of the participants had one or more brain infarct lesions.

Researchers found that the risk of brain lesions was higher in people with higher average systolic blood pressure across the years. For a person with one standard deviation above the average systolic blood pressure, for example 147 mmHg versus 134 mmHg, there was a 46 percent increased risk of having one or more brain lesions, specifically infarcts. For comparison, the effect of an increase by one standard deviation on the risk of having one or more brain infarcts was the equivalent of nine years of brain aging.

Those with one standard deviation above the average systolic blood pressure also had a 46 percent greater chance of having large lesions and a 36 percent greater risk of very small lesions. Arvanitakis noted that an important additional result of the study was that people with a declining systolic blood pressure also had an increased risk of one or more brain lesions, so it was not just the level but also the declining blood pressure which was associated with brain lesions.

Separately, higher average diastolic blood pressure was also related to brain infarct lesions. People who had an increase of one standard deviation from an average diastolic blood pressure, for example from 71 mmHg to 79 mmHg, had a 28 percent greater risk of one or more brain lesions.

The results did not change when researchers controlled for other factors that could affect the risk of brain lesions, such as whether they used high blood pressure drugs.

When looking for signs of Alzheimer’s disease in the brain at autopsy, researchers found a link between higher average late-life systolic blood pressure across the years before death and a higher number of tangles, but not plaques. Arvanitakis said this link is difficult to interpret and will need more research.

 The bottom line is be aware of your blood pressure and how to maintain healthy levels.

Natural remedies to support healthy blood pressure and circulation:

  • Magnesium
  • Potassium
  • Vitamin B complex
  • Vitamin C
  • CoQ10
  • Resveratrol
  • Astaxanthin
  • Nattokinase
  • Pomegranate
  • Acetyl-L-carnitine

A healthy heart supports a healthy brain. Here are 12 ways to support both.

12 ways to support a healthy heart

  1. Eat a nutritious, high-fiber, low-fat heart healthy diet.
  2. Include foods high in phytonutrients (the nutrients found in plants)
  3. Get plenty of foods containing omega-3 fatty acids (found in cold water fish). Vegetarians should take flax-seed oil or ground flax seed.
  4. Take nutritional supplements proven to support a healthy heart
  5. Practice a stress reduction technique such as yoga or meditation
  6. Exercise
  7. Stop smoking!
  8. Reduce and/or avoid alcohol
  9. Get an annual physical exam to rule out other health factor risks
  10. Protect yourself from environmental toxins
  11. Drink 6 to 8 glasses of purified, filtered water every day
  12. Get plenty of restful sleep!

 

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Barbra Cohn cared for her husband Morris for 10 years. He passed away from younger-onset Alzheimer’s disease in 2010. Afterward, she was compelled to write “Calmer Waters: The Caregiver’s Journey Through Alzheimer’s & Dementia”—Winner of the 2018 Book Excellence Award in Self-Help—in order to help other caregivers feel healthier and happier, have more energy, sleep better, feel more confident, deal with feelings of guilt and grief, and to ultimately experience inner peace. “Calmer Waters” is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Boulder Book Store, Tattered Cover Book Store,  Indie Bound.org, and many other fine independent bookstores, as well as public libraries.